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NAMTC Newsletter
In This Issue...
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by Ricki Chowning, NAMTC Past President Thanks to all of our members who voted in this year’s elections. The Executive Board hopes you liked the electronic balloting process. It’s just one more example of “putting the T” in NAMTC!
Congratulations to Geoff Craven and Karen Appleton, winners of this year’s election.
Geoff Craven will officially take over his new position as President-Elect at the summer Executive Board Retreat. Geoff comes from the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and has been a NAMTC member for over 10 years. He is a veteran of regional media and tech centers, having worked for an ESA in educational technology for over 26 years. His vision for NAMTC includes positioning NAMTC to play a key role in implementing technology in our local school districts and to continue as a technology leader and voice for all schools. Geoff’s favorite inspirational words are “To Infinity and Beyond!!!!”
Karen Appleton has already served as NAMTC’s Treasurer for six years and will now continue to do so for another two years. Karen’s pledge is to to carry the responsibilities of the Treasurer with consistency and a dedication to maintaining watchfulness for a consistent and strong financial position. She believes that the goal of NAMTC should be to stay in tune to the changing face of regional service, and to support the growing and changing needs of our membership. Karen’s professional responsibility is Library Media/instructional Technology Consultant for Prairie Lakes AEA 8, Pocahontas, Iowa.
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NAMTC Board
Executive Board Meets Via Video/Tele Conference
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by Debbie Hale, NAMTC Secretary The NAMTC Executive Board met on Monday, February 26, 2007 for just under 2 hours via video conference. This was the first video conference meeting for this current executive board and it was a success. Thanks to President Bob Steingreaber, this format was easy to follow and it was good to see faces with the voices.
The budget was presented by Treasurer, Karen Appleton and reviewed by the exec board and we are operating on solid ground with assets of $35,086.10.
By-laws are being reviewed by a board sub-committee and presented at the Leadership Summit in April.
The Executive Director provided the following Leadership Summit update to the board.
The dates of the '07 Leadership Summit are April 19-22, at the Radisson Green Tree. The NAMTC Executive Board joins the entire NAMTC Board in anticipation of the success of this summit; the advance numbers look good and there is a lot of interest by vendors.... Full Article >> |
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NAMTC.org: Getting What You Need
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by Betty Gorsegner Ehlinger, NAMTC Executive Director Current NAMTC members are encouraged to utilize their website, www.NAMTC.org for easy access to a variety of organizational documents. Click on “About NAMTC” for a listing of Board Members, Braselman Award winners, and Organization Information, which includes Board Regulations, Bylaws, and the Duties/Functions of Officers and Board Members.
The “Member Area” is password-protected, however. To access documents in this area, a member will need to input the User ID and Password. If you do not remember the necessary log-ins, simply click on “forgot your password” and the User ID and Password will be sent to the NAMTC contact member’s email address.
When entering the Member Area, the member’s contact information will be displayed. At the top of the page are several options. The Member Area includes current and back issues (to 2001) of the NAMTC newsletter, Media Reviews from 2001... Full Article >> |
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Diane Bilello, long time NAMTC member and the current NAMTC Board Corporate Representative, announced her retirement from Films Media Group effective the end of this month. Plans for the future include spending more time with her husband, children and grandchildren. Congratulations! |
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- Advertisement -
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Tech Tools
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by John Magneson, Merced County Office of Education, jmagneson@mcoe.org
- A number of educational institutions are utilizing open source portals as a way of delivering subscription based services to clients and customizing resources based on client profiles. More information about the open source portal effort can be located at JA-SIG and CCETC has examples of portals.
- Google has developed a free website trafficking software that presents information in a variety of useful ways. Google Analytics tells you what you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. By creating an account at Google Analytics and installing a small snippet of code on your website’s splash page you will be able to gather information that will allow you to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives and provide data to improve your site.
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Research Results
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by Cliff Ehlinger, Grant Wood Area Education Agency, cehlinger@gwaea.org
- The Role of ESAs in Teacher Professional Development study found that ESAs play a number of roles in providing professional development both to teachers and administrators. The ESA can bring a multitude of training programs to the schools. The study includes the methods employed to deliver the training as well as the content that was delivered.
- Published by the Arkansas Bureau of Research this report compares the services of the Arkansas Educational Service Centers to those similar agencies in Texas, New York, and Iowa. While the variances among the state are most informative, it is obvious that the similarity of services and processes makes ESA more alike than different.
- Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement is an updated briefing to a 1999 publication that examines research perspectives and findings on using technology to improve student achievement. The 1999 report is updated to include the role of technology with “high stakes” testing and technology literacy. Separate copy is provided to the Information and Communication Technology Literacy skills required today.
- This Teraflops Research Chips press release describes the latest development from Intel research. This chip is the first programmable chip to deliver more than one trillion floating point operations per second. This chip not only provides the opportunity for excessive speed increases, it also pioneers the development of having networks of computers on a chip, energy efficiency, and, power management. Continued research, such as this, will enhance the ability of all data streams as PC performance is improved.
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Professional Potpourri
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by Debbie Hale, Educational Service District 113, dhale@esd113.k12.wa.us
- Leaders and Laggards is an interesting glimpse at education through the eyes of business. The lens through which the US Chamber views education state-by-state includes these parameters: academic achievement of low-income and minority students, return on investment, truth in advertising about student proficiency, rigor of standards, postsecondary and workforce readiness, 21st century teaching force, flexibility in management and policy, and, finally data quality. An easy mouse rollover you can see the results for each state. There is also a handy bar chart immediately below the map that can be reordered with a click of the mouse to have a graphic of the same information in ascending or descending order.
- They are cropping up all over, these exciting groups and places on the Internet where educators can take ideas from, as well as adding to an already rich pool of ideas, lessons, and even projects. In the case of the Apple Learning Interchange, ALI, educators can create their own curriculum content, find others to collaborate with regarding their classroom methods and experiences, and share movies, images, sounds, and more. Getting to these treasure troves is easy – you simply open any iLife application or plug in your iPod. You can find ideas for classroom activities, connect with peers through searching, messaging, iChat and collaborative publication tools, and post projects as low-tech as classroom snapshots or as involved as multi-page abstracts for assessment, enhancement, and most importantly for peer review. Check it out and register now.
- Almost everyone has heard about Geocaching. But have you tried creating a geocache on your school grounds or in your students’ neighborhoods? By adding one more aspect you can help ignite mathematics in the classroom. When you marry the GPS device with National Math Trails you have a real reward for students and community residents as well. The geography and math standards with which you will ultimately align are innumerable. The combination of a digital camera, a good eye for math and a GPS navigational device will provide the excitement and engagement of student minds in the spring when it can be difficult to harness all of that energy.
- The New York Philharmonic site for kids is one of the best music education and entertaining URLs around. If you love music or teach music you have to land here eventually. From the ‘Musician’s Lounge’ to the ‘Conductor’s/Soloist’s Dressing Room it is all here. Turn your speakers up and watch the faces you teach or parent light up. In fact this website is so well done that other orchestras have mimicked or just hired the same Kidzone developers, SymphonyWorks MoonRoad LLC.
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NAMTC.ORG - All Rights Reserved |
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The NAMTC Newsletter is published five times annually by the
National Association of Media and Technology Centers (NAMTC)
and is available only through membership in NAMTC.
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NAMTC
PO Box 9844
Cedar Rapids, IA 52409
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Phone: 319-654-0608
Fax: 319-654-0609
Email: Contact Us
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